Topics

Stacy Knight of Hamburg didn't get the flu shot, but her 5-year-old daughter did, and so did her parents. And yet, they all got the flu — along with a lot of other people this winter. "Fever, chills, tiredness," Knight said, recalling the telltale symptoms of virus. This flu season's influenza vaccine, it turns out, is even less effective than we were recently told. With the flu circulating throughout much of the country, the vaccine is showing just 18 percent effectiveness against the dominant H3N2 strain of the virus, according to HealthDay, a National Institutes of Health online news publication. That's a drop from the 23 percent that experts at...

Related "Diseases and Illnesses" Articles

Stacy Knight of Hamburg didn't get the flu shot, but her 5-year-old daughter did, and so did her parents. And yet, they all got the flu — along with a lot of other people this winter.
"Fever, chills, tiredness," Knight said, recalling the...

There may seem to be no end to the bitter cold, but the flu season, at least, is waning.Though health officials still describe the flu as "widespread" in Pennsylvania, the number of confirmed flu cases statewide has dropped — to under 2,000 in...

When I was a child in the 1950s there was only the polio vaccine. Vaccines against other childhood illnesses such as measles, mumps and rubella were not available. Potential complications of measles infection in unvaccinated children include ear...

More than 140 people in 14 states, including Pennsylvania, have contracted measles so far this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2014, 644 people in the United States were reported as having measles, the...

HARRISBURG —A person who has measles may have exposed other people to the illness in the Shippensburg and Chambersburg area.
"Measles is a potentially very serious and highly contagious virus," said acting Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine....

It is not "just" the flu.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, up to 20 percent of Pennsylvanians come down with the flu every year and 120 to 2,000 die of complications.
"We don't take the flu lightly," says Terry...

The spread of mumps around the NHL has concerned Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall so much that some of his players have recently had vaccines.
"We've addressed some things," Hextall said after the Flyers' win over New Jersey on Thursday at...

Two big-named talents have been sidelined by what are normally thought of as childhood ailments.Filmmaker and actress Angelina Jolie said on Friday she has chicken pox and will not be able to attend events for World War Two drama "Unbroken," her...

Chances are you know someone who has died from lung cancer. That loss might have been prevented if proposed Medicare coverage of screening for heavy smokers had been in place.
Screening those at greatest risk of developing the disease could save tens...

The flu — and a particularly nasty strain not necessarily covered by the vaccine — is gaining momentum in the Lehigh Valley.Health Network Laboratories in Allentown, which processes flu tests for much of the region, has reported a precipitous spike in the...

A new strain of the influenza virus is causing some concern among health officials. The national Centers for Disease Control has reported the flu is widespread in more than 20 states, including Pennsylvania.
"The concern is that the flu season...

Deaths due to influenza and pneumonia have hit "epidemic" levels in the U.S. as flu activity became widespread in 36 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials reported 837 flu and pneumonia deaths to the CDC...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — State health officials are warning of a possible measles exposure this week at Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum and a suburban pharmacy.Officials say a person showing symptoms of the virus visited the hands-on learning museum...

The scene is set for the flu season, already deadly, to take a dramatic turn for the worst in the Lehigh Valley.
Circulating is a particularly nasty strain of the flu against which the vaccine offers little protection. And now, just as students are...

The Obamacare subsidies saved my life. Now, I'm scared the Supreme Court is going to gut them.
In 2010, at 54, I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis (end-stage liver disease). It's debilitating, and a transplant is the only cure.
At that time,...

Pennsylvania is one of six states that will begin stepped-up monitoring of people entering the United States from the three countries at the center of West Africa's Ebola epidemic.Starting Monday, travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will be...

DALLAS - The United States is issuing new protocols for health workers treating Ebola patients and a rapid-response military medical team prepared to start training, even as 43 people being monitored for the virus were declared risk free.The...

I can't tell you whether to believe assurances from those in power that the deadly Ebola virus will be kept in check, but there's no doubt that panicking can expose you to harm.
Scams related to the Ebola outbreak are spreading and you aren't immune....

Three Pennsylvanians who were on a flight from Cleveland to Dallas with a nurse who tested positive for Ebola are being monitored in Texas but have a low risk of contracting the virus, state health officials said Friday.
"There is no risk that...

The NFL's infectious disease consultants, in a newsletter sent to team doctors and trainers outlining the primary facts of the Ebola virus, said they do not currently recommend screening for possible contact with infected patients.
The newsletter, to...